Some Like It Hot
Well I thought I’d be in for a quiet week, but I was wrong.
Despite not having any roles planned for the evening, I was asked at the last minute to step in as evaluator for Andrew.
Furthermore, at the start of the night, I was asked to give the first table topics talk (”My Most Exotic Meal”) - so much for having an easy night. I must admit I let out a bit of a yelp when my name was called!
But I got up there and did it. It wasn’t too bad. I started off with a story about my Mum & Dad, to buy me some time to think. Before meeting my father, Mum studied and learnt 366 recipes, so that he would never be bored. Then, when they finally got together, she learnt that all he really liked was “Mince & Tatties” on Monday to Saturday, and Steak on a Sunday! She still has the poor unused recipes in a folder somewhere.
That was how the evening started. And then, at the end of the night came Andrew’s speech and my evaluation.
He was giving a speech from one of the advanced programmes, and his project required him to have a questions and answers section afterwards.
Andrew was speaking on an interesting topic too - global warming, with a speech entitled “Some Like It Hot”. Now it is often said (and it was this Monday) that you’re best steering clear of sex, politics and religion - at least when it comes to
public speaking.
Andrew resolutely ignored this advice. He even made a joke out of it. He went through each of the UK political parties in turn and analysed their response to global warming.
For him, in this speech, it worked. He certainly had no problem getting the audience to ask pertinent questions at the end. It just goes to show there are no rules to speaking that apply all of the time.
And do you know what? Despite my having been so nervous last time, I took this evaluation in my stride. This time, I wasn’t eating myself up with questions beforehand. Perhaps because it had been sprung upon me, I simply felt that I could do this, that I’d make a good show of it for Andrew. I felt good about it for once.
I feel like I’m getting somewhere now, that I’ll be actually not just able to do this public speaking lark, but I’m starting to actually relax enough to enjoy it.
Maidenhead Speakers Club is changing how I feel about speaking, and how I feel about myself too.
